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After Withdrawal from the IWC: The Future of Japanese Whaling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Fynn Holm
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Summary

In December 2018, the Japanese government announced that it was withdrawing from the International Whaling Commission and would resume commercial whaling in July 2019. This paper revisits four coastal communities that still conduct coastal whaling to see how these communities have developed during the whaling moratorium and what prospects and challenges they face when commercial whaling is resumed.

Keywords

Japanese whalingwhaling moratoriumInternational Whaling Commissionwhaling townInstitute of Cetacean Research
Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 17 , Issue 4 , February 2019 , e4
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2019

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References

Notes

1 See Statement by Chief Cabinet Secretary, Dec 26, 2018.

2 For examples, see Midori Kagawa-Fox, “Japan's Whaling Triangle – The Power Behind the Whaling Policy,” Japanese Studies 29, no. 3 (2009): 401–14; Atsushi Ishii and Ayako Okubo, “An Alternative Explanation of Japan's Whaling Diplomacy in the Post-Moratorium Era,” Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy 10, no. 1 (2007): 55–87; Keiko Hirata, “Beached Whales: Examining Japan's Rejection of an International Norm,” Social Science Japan Journal 7, no. 2 (2004): 177–97; Mike Danaher, “Why Japan Will Not Give up Whaling,” Pacifica Review: Peace, Security & Global Change 14, no. 2 (2002): 105–20.

3 David McNeill and Tomohiko Taniguchi, “A Solution to the Whaling Issue? Former MOFA Spokesman Speaks Out,” The Asia-Pacific Journal 7, no. 9 (2009).

4 Jakobina K. Arch, Bringing Whales Ashore: Oceans and the Environment of Early Modern Japan (Washington: University of Washington Press, 2018).

5 Amy L. Catalinac and Gerald Chan, “Japan, the West, and the Whaling Issue: Understanding the Japanese Side,” Japan Forum 17, no. 1 (2005): 133–63; Michael Strausz, “Executives, Legislatures, and Whales: The Birth of Japan's Scientific Whaling Regime,” International Relations of the Asia-Pacific 14, no. 3 (2014): 455–78.

6 For more information on the several scientific whaling programs, visit the website of the ICR.

7 Robert L. Friedheim, “Moderation in the Pursuit of Justice: Explaining Japan's Failure in the International Whaling Negotiations,” Ocean Development & International Law 27, no. 4 (1996): 349–78.

8 Tomoya Akimichi et al., Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan: Report of an International Workshop, ed. Milton M. R. Freeman (Boreal Institute for Northern Studies, University of Alberta, 1988), 83.

9 Masami Iwasaki-Goodman, “An Analysis of Social and Cultural Change in Ayukawa-Hama (Ayukawa Shore Community)” (PhD thesis, University of Alberta, Department of Anthropology, 1994), 56–61.

10 Akimichi et al., Small-Type Coastal Whaling in Japan, 75.

11 Charlie Foley, “Whale Wars” (Animal Planet, 2008-2015).

12 Louie Psihoyos, The Cove, Documentary (Lionsgate, 2009).

13 Atsushi Ishii, Kaitai shinsho “hogei ronsō” (Tokyo: Shinhyōron, 2011).

14 See Fnn Prime, Dec 26, 2018.

15 See Buzzap!, Dec 30, 2018.

16 See Sankei News, Dec 20, 2014.

17 See Mainichi Digital, Dec 20, 2018.

18 See for example Yahoo News, Dec 26, 2018; Livedoor News, Dec 26, 2018.

19 For more information, see the website of michi no eki wao.

20 Jeffrey J. Smith, “Evolving to Conservation?: The International Court's Decision in the Australia/Japan Whaling Case,” Ocean Development & International Law 45, no. 4 (2014): 301–27.

21 Mikio Ōshima and Seiji Ōsumi, “Ayukawa No Fukkō Ha Kujira Kara,” Ishinomakigaku, no. 3 (2017): 30.

22 Fynn Holm, “The Whales and the Tsunami: The reconstruction and reinvention of the ”whale town“ Ayukawa,” in Land, Natur, Nation. Japans Regionen zwischen Idylle, Verfall und Revitalisierung, ed. Ludgera Lewerich; Theresa Sieland and Timo Thelen (Düsseldorf: Düsseldorf University Press, 2019), in print.

23 See The House of Representatives, Japan, Oct 23, 2012; Philip Brasor, “Scrutiny of Tohoku Reconstruction Funds Needed,” The Japan Times Online, Sep 23, 2012.

24 Paul A. Cunningham, Edward H. Huijbens, and Stephen L. Wearing, “From Whaling to Whale Watching: Examining Sustainability and Cultural Rhetoric,” Journal of Sustainable Tourism 20, no. 1 (2012): 143–61.

25 For a report on the whale sightings by the whale watchers, see Yoshikazu Uni et al., “Sighting Records of Cetaceans and Sea Birds in the Southern Okhotsk Sea, off Abashiri, Hokkaido,” Bulletin of the Shiretoko Museum, no. 36 (2014): 29–40.

26 See the website of the city of Kushiro.

27 Jun Morikawa, Whaling in Japan: Power, Politics and Diplomacy (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009), 69.

28 See the website of kushiro kujira kyōgikai.